The Coalition — the studio now synonymous with Gears of War but known as Black Tusk Studios until 2015 — unveiled a brief teaser at E3 2013 for a game that looked like it could have competed with Sony’s Uncharted series. That concept was ultimately shelved in favor of Gears of War.
Neither Microsoft nor The Coalition has publicly detailed the mysterious 30-second trailer shown more than a decade ago, but game historian Liam Robertson of DidYouKnowGaming recently dug into the project and revealed new information about the previously unnamed title. Robertson notes that Microsoft wanted an Xbox answer to Uncharted.
The studio opted to cancel the Uncharted-style project so the team could concentrate on Gears of War 4. Robertson reports that studio manager Mike Crump said the decision to end “Project Ranger” was unanimous, and when the change was announced to the wider Black Tusk team it provoked mixed reactions: some developers welcomed the new direction, while others were disappointed to see the project closed.
Crump later acknowledged the disappointment in an interview with Polygon, admitting some team members were upset when their long-running project was shelved. Robertson’s reporting also indicates that layoffs followed the cancellation and that veteran producer Rod Fergusson was later brought in to lead the studio.
Fergusson steered the rebranded studio, now called The Coalition, through development of Gears of War 4 — a title that released in 2016 and was generally well received. Curiously, Robertson’s research suggests the abandoned Uncharted-style game had plans to use Xbox Kinect features, an idea that would have added its own challenges and controversies.
For anyone interested in forgotten projects and industry behind-the-scenes, Robertson’s video on Project Ranger provides fresh context on an obscure mid-2010s concept that sparked attention after E3.
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Source: gamesradar.com
